Progressive Politics from Memphis

This Week in Bad Ideas – 3/21/13 #TNLEG #ShelbyCo

via @gochristhomas on TwitterWhen people think of the “silly season”, they typically think of political campaign time. These days, campaigning is a 24/7/365 affair. Think I’m wrong? Consider this photo of County Commissioner Steve Basar, taken by Commissioner Chris Thomas, who I ran against in the 2012 August election…at his first fundraiser of the season…last night (3/20/13).

Any Democrat thinking about challenging Basar might want to start getting their ducks in a row now. He’s a nice guy (that I happen to like personally) and pretty popular in many circles…but that doesn’t mean he should go unchallenged.

I don’t live in his new district, and don’t have any plans of running in 2014. Basar clearly does. If you’re not sure that you’re in his district, you can go here. He’ll be running in District 13.

If you are in his district and interested in running, drop me a line. I have some insights that might help you.

Basar’s decision to seek re-election isn’t the worst idea to befall Shelby Co. or Tennessee. Here are some of them, from the past three days. This sample is just the tip of the iceberg…

State Run Inspections only for Memphians, Thanks to Mark Luttrell

Apparently, Shelby Co. Mayor Mark Luttrell doesn’t feel like he needs support from Memphians. In a Commerical Appeal article the inspections stations, mandated by an EPA agreement, and recently abandoned by the City of Memphis, will be taken over by the state rather than the County…even though the EPA now classifies the entirety of Shelby Co. a pollution problem.

The agreement with the State of Tennessee would exempt the 1/3 of Shelby Countians who live outside of Memphis from vehicle inspections for up to 6 years. Folks who live in Memphis will not only still be subject to inspections, but will also have to pay for them.

Good Reads

A new tumblr account has popped up called iDemocrat that is collecting people’s stories about why they are a Democrat. You can submit your story here.

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